This invention relates to an electronic driving-type display apparatus for an electric washing machine and, more particularly, to an electronic driving-type status display apparatus for an electric washing machine in which the progress and abnormalities of the washing operation are displayed on a display consisting of electronic driving-type display elements so as to be suitable for a so-called "automatic" or electronically controlled washing machine.
Conventionally, some electric washing machines display the progress of the washing operation. An example of such a display apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 49-35572. In this apparatus, a plurality of panel plates are located on a rotating shaft which is rotated in one direction. The panel plates have names of various cycles (WATER SUPPLY, WASH, DRAINAGE, DEHYDRATION, and the like) during the washing operation and figures for illustrating these processes thereon. The rotating shaft is rotated in one direction at predetermined angular intervals in accordance with the progress of the washing operation. Therefore, the panel plates corresponding to the above cycles sequentially appear at a front display position of the washing machine.
However, the display apparatus with the above arrangement has the following drawbacks:
(a) In the above arrangement, a large number of panel plates must be mounted on a single rotating shaft. In addition, the above arrangement is a mechanical one which requires a rotating plate for detecting a rotational angular position of the rotating shaft and a control member for locking the panel plates at a predetermined front display position. Such an arrangement is liable to malfunction, is mechanically controlled, and hence is not suitable for recent developments in electronically-controlled washing machines.
(b) In the above arrangement, the panels corresponding to the respective cycles are caused to sequentially appear at the front display position by the rotating shaft which is rotated in one direction. Accordingly, display contents are limited to the sequence of the names of the cycles determined by rotation of the shaft in one direction, so that any one of the display contents and the order in which it appears cannot be easily changed.
On the other hand, various functions have been recently provided for electronically-controlled washing machines. For example, process cycles can be set arbitrarily by a user, or abnormalities can be detected during a drainage or dehydration process in some washing machines. It is proposed to use the above-mentioned conventional display apparatus in such electronically-controlled washing machines. For example, a process cycle set by the user may be displayed on the conventional display apparatus. In order to cause the panel plate corresponding to the cycle set by the user to appear at the front display position, since the panel plates are arranged according to the time sequence, other panel plates sometimes must be rotated rapidly by the rotating shaft. Therefore, it sometimes takes a long time for the proper display to appear.
In addition, abnormalities detected during the drainage or dehydration process may be displayed by the conventional display apparatus. In this case, a panel plate displaying "DRAINAGE ABNORMALITY" thereon may be positioned next to a panel plate displaying "DEHYDRATION CYCLE", or a panel plate displaying "DRAINAGE ABNORMALITY" may be positioned next to a panel plate displaying "DEHYDRATION CYCLE". However, since the panel plates appear in a predetermined order upon shaft rotation in one direction, "DRAINAGE ABNORMALITY" is displayed temporarily when there is no abnormality for drainage or dehydration. As a result, abnormalities may be erroneously recognized.